Housmaster's Report

Hi,


I hope you all had a productive and enjoyable holiday with your sons. Kathy, Warren and I had great holidays and managed to recharge well in preparation for the new term. I am always amazed how quickly time passes during the term and cannot believe we are at the end of the first week already. The third term is for me the most enjoyable and the easiest of the year due to lack of exams, less inter-house activities and the focus on Winter sport. However, I also know it is not so with the matrics who have 6 weeks until their mock exams. It is never easy for them as the rest of the school do not write exams and have far less academic pressure on them.

Firstly, well done to James Drummond. James was selected for the South African U18 Hockey side which is a huge accolade for him considering he is only in grade 11. Well done James! We have a new addition to the House in Matt Wills who is a post matric. We hope he has a productive and enjoyable stay here.

Our new hotwater heating system is almost up and running. All the dorms are painted and looking great! The matric lounge chairs have been recovered and also look great.

Last term I decided that we have to do something about the grass in the quad. It really is not functional. I would love the boys to play touch, hit a hockey ball or play an informal game of mini-soccer on it. They cannot because it will soon be a mud bath or given our present weather a dust bowl. I really do think it is time we put in false grass so that they can play as much as they like without damaging the surface. This is going to cost a lot and as it is an extra, I school will not pay. We are going to have to raise the money ourselves. If every parent put in some money on a sliding scale according to the time their sons have left here, we could get it in fairly quickly. What do you think? Would you be prepared to put money into the project? I will be sending out a survey next week in this regard to see what support we have so give it a thought. Have a look for yourself : http://www.multiturf.co.za/ . Let me know what you think. I know the boys are VERY VERY KEEN!

Thank you for ensuring the boys have had their hair cut properly on their return. I love telling boys that when I was at school...bla de bla...my mom used to take me for a hair cut when I got back for the holidays! She really did. She was Danish. 

I was not happy with many of the results last term in the exams and as a result we have imposed far tougher and stricter measures during prep time. Also, we shall be taking a very tough approach to boys who do not produce work on time for their teachers. Your son’s have been warned. Thank you to those parents who have contacted me in connection with their concerns regarding their reports and results. I urge you to make contact with your son’s tutor in this regard as well if you have concerns of an academic nature. However, on the whole we are committed to improving the general academic standard across the House at the end of the year. I have outlined some of the strategies and goals to the boys in our recent House meeting.

Next Friday the grade 11s and those matrics who did not attend last year have the opportunity of attending the Stellenbosch Open Day. The school will supply transport for those who require it. The boys must give me their names by Tuesday morning if they wish to attend and travel by bus. It is interesting that 48 of Bishops’ matrics from last year chose Stellenbosch as their university of choice so I do encourage the grade 11s to attend the day.

You will have received information regarding the Bishops Pops. White House boys will be going on the first evening which is Tuesday 2nd August. I do encourage you to purchase tickets from the school shop for the evening. It really is something special. All the boys have to travel with the House by bus to and back from the City Hall so please do not organise for your son to go with you either there or on return.

You will see that I put in an advert for a skiing holiday next year. I will be accompanying the boys who choose to go on this trip and I thought it may be a great opportunity for some of the White House lads to join the group. There is a ceiling on the amount of boys who can go so you must act quickly.

I have also included an advert for study skills which you may want your son to attend. I know the course is limited to only 10 boys so you will have to act quickly on this if you feel your son may benefit .

You will also see that I have also posted a duty roster and White House calendar for the term.

Finally, a huge plea. You will notice a number of boys have indicated they would like to spend the weekend with other boys. I cannot let them go unless I have your permission to do so. You can email me or sms me your permission. Some boys will be very disappointed if they cannot go. We have included the host parent contact numbers so you can contact those parents if you feel it necessary. No boy will be allowed out for the weekend unless his parents have emailed or smsed me permission.

Warren is on duty this weekend.

Take care and have a great weekend.